Hulstria
26 | popular_vote1 = 19,322,275 | percentage1 = 32.98% | swing1 = 4.02% | image4 = | leader4 = ? | leader_since4 = ? | party4 = Konstitutionelle Monarchie Partei | leaders_seat4 = ? | last_election4 = 23.11%, 147 seats | seats4 = 94 | seat_change4 = 53 | popular_vote4 = 8,360,032 | percentage4 = 14.27% | swing4 = 8.84% | image3 = | leader3 = Jörg Kruse | leader_since3 = 3631 | party3 = Die Kronenlander Republikaner | leaders_seat3 = ? | last_election3 = 20.12%, 130 seats | seats3 = 147 | seat_change3 = {increase} 17 | popular_vote3 = 13,428,718 | percentage3 = 22.92% | swing3 = 2.80% | image2 = | leader2 = Oli Stolcker | leader_since2 = 3659 | party2 = Hosianisch-Demokratisches Verbund | leaders_seat2 = Labsburg St. Martinus, Budenlar | last_election2 = 19.76%, 126 seats | seats2 = 188 | seat_change2 = 62 | popular_vote2 = 17,428,269 | percentage2 = 29.74% | swing2 = 9.98% | image5 = | leader5 = Erich Morgenstern | leader_since5 = 3659 | party5 = Kronenlander Sozialreformistische Partei | leaders_seat5 = ? | last_election5 = New party | seats5 = 0 | seat_change5 = - | popular_vote5 = 53,453 | percentage5 = 0.09% | swing5 = 0.09% | title = Staatsminister | posttitle = Resulting SM | before_election = Werner Luscher | before_party = Liberal Civic Union | after_election = Nathalie Lahnsteiger | after_party = Liberal Civic Union |color1 = 0000FF |color4 = 800080 |color3 = 191970 |color2 = FF4500 |color5 = FF0000 |seats_before1 = |seats_before2 = }} Background Since the 3657 election, the dominance of the LBU in Crownlander politics has been seen to steadily erode after over 40 years in government. With the severely weakened HDV out of the picture, the LBU's hegemony over the right of Crownlander politics had previously been relatively unchallenged. Werner Luscher had taken over from first LBU leader Franz Graumann in an unchallenged fashion without much change to the LBU's course, and led the LBU in a continued minority government. Increasing social problems weakened the governing party starting 3660. The Reichsamt für Statistik und Sozialforschung, the statistics office of the Crownlander government, signalled increasing poverty and inner-city problems in its 3660 Sozialmonitor ''report. The HDV, under the young and dynamic Oli Stolcker, who had been elected party leader on a platform of party renewal the year before, grasped this opportunity to make a comeback with both hands. Stolcker, whose campaign had already contained criticism of the government's focus on the individual, led his party in an increased focus on social justice, filling the vacant position on the left of the political spectrum left by the collapse of Solidarity and the HDV's gradual move to the right. This quickly enhanced Stolcker's profile and set him up as Luscher's principal challenger (and therefore implictly as leader of the opposition) in the eyes of the media. Campaign LBU Despite the HDV's constant attacks, the governing LBU was not perceived as reconsidering its neoliberal and individualist economic policy which the Hosian Democratic opposition blamed for the social challenges named in the "Sozialmonitor" report. Instead, Economics Minister Wolfgang Hilgers pushed them even further and proposed lowering the minimum wage, loosening labelling requirements for food companies and abolishing anti-discrimination employment laws in order to boost employment and accelerate growth. Additionally, the government succeeded in expanding free trade through an agreement with Zardugal which eliminated trade barriers and benefitted Hulstrian & Gao-Soton investors. Simultaneously, parliamentary leader Nathalie Lahnsteiger went on the offense and attacked the HDV's leftward shift, saying that the government was ''"tirelessly working for the betterment of the job market situation, delivering real policy solutions while the opposition continues to produce only sentimentalist catchwords." In general, Lahnsteiger, in charge of the LBU's campaign, attempted to portray her party as the force for growth and full employment while portraying Staatsminister Werner Luscher's challenger as economically incompetent. A second focus of the LBU, articulated primarily by the conservative Interior Minister Shojiro Furutani, was law and order and immigration, where the party pursued an increasingly restrictive course as opposed to its overall libertarian-leaning agenda. HDV The HDV entered the elections on a confidence high not seen since before the party had slipped into its present embattled position. The ''"Neu-HDV" ''strategy initiated by Stolcker and the so-called ''Dreiziger-gruppe ''(which also managed to elected Party President Hedwig Wertmann and Deputy Leader Rorensu Fukuyama), which was geared towards renewing and sharpening the profile of the party by among others a change of the logo and successful attempts to appropriate contemporary issues led to a new self-consciousness on behalf of party leaders and members. The Hosian Democrats' campaign, therefore, continued where the previous year's ''"Gerade vom Herzen" ''campaign tour had left off, using the same slogan next to ''"Für dich, für uns, für Zukunft" ''(for you, for us, for the future). The strategy was two-fold. For one, the campaign intended to contrast the HDV directly with the LBU, with prominent party members making direct attacks on the governing party while outlining a clear HDV alternative. This led to prominent advocacy of a more pragmatic approach to government involvement and the continuation of the social justice focus. Secondly, the party attempted to make use of Stolcker's increasing popularity by heavily featuring its young leader. KMP DKR KSRP Outcome The election was widely seen as a comeback and moral victory for Oli Stolcker and his HDV, who made the biggest gains and won the Governor-General's office for Silvan Gubler. Following a high-profile campaign featuring Stolcker as a challenger to Luscher with an alternative based on social justice, the comeback of the HDV to within 4% of the plurality party was their best result since the Hosian Democrats were swept out of the plurality in 3626, but given the depth of the HDV's plight after 3626, analysts noted that perhaps from fourth place to plurality would have been a distance too far for the party to cross. In the process, the HDV swept away the 17% lead the LBU held over the next party in the previous election and humiliated Staatsminister Werner Luscher by winning a majority of votes in his home Crownland of Kuratha, where he personally led the LBU list. This led to doubts over Luscher's position as leader of the LBU. There were also small gains for the newly-renamed DKR, who took both Gao-Showan Crownlands.